


Coming Home

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Altered Mental States, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, and needed to vent them somewhere, written bc i Have Emotions about the end of agony of a witch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26113351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Eda, as she slowly succumbs to her curse for the final time, is surprised to find that fate has other plans for her.
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Hooty & King & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Owlbert
Comments: 10
Kudos: 153





	Coming Home

Eda always knew, if she became the owl beast permanently, whatever would be left of her would be trapped in the gray mindscape she tends to visit when the curse overpowers her.What she didn’t know, up to now, was how _boring_ it would be.She’s just sort of here, wherever _here_ is.Sure, it’s most likely her mind, but it irks Eda that her mind is this _dull_ , though.She’d think she’d have a lot more interesting things going on in here.At least before she’d had the recurring memory of when she was cursed.Even _that_ isn’t coming to her now.Not that Eda _wants_ to think about it, about Lilith.She just…she wants _something._

Something to ground her in this endless gray.Eda can ‘walk’ in any direction and feel like she’s going somewhere and nowhere at the same time.She can look at her hand and consider it both close to her and far away.Eda’s perception of reality is skewed, warped.She’s both conscious and not.She hates this feeling.Having enough awareness to know she still _exists_ , but not enough to truly _be_ anything.

Eda is fading away.She knows this in a calm, accepting sort of way her old self, the one who existed back in the physical world, would never tolerate.If she’s anything right now, it’s merely a phantom projection of that self.The last vestiges that refuse to let go before the curse consumes every corner of her mind and Eda as she was is finally no more.

She’s not really Eda anymore anyway, is she?Not Edalyn Clawthorne.Not the Owl Lady.Not anything.Just a ghost, a lingering memory.Will the owl beast remember her?Doubtful.She never had any awareness of what the beast did when it was in control—only the terror of those who witnessed its carnage afterwards.The memories of fearful faces of former friends comes back to her for a brief second.A moment to be sad, and a little relieved.No one will mourn her.After all, there were _reasons_ she lived alone in a secluded house in the woods.

The thought that _that_ ’s not quite right struggles for her drifting attention.The details are blurred shapes she can’t quite focus on long enough to recall.

There had been a reason for all this, hadn’t there?A strong emotion for something—someone?—outside herself.She can’t describe it, but she _knows_ it.There was something and, whatever it was, it drove her to pushing beyond the breaking point, to where the curse could fully exert its control.

She doesn’t regret it, is what she assumes her last cognizant thought will be.Even though this is her fate, she doesn’t feel remorse.Whoever it was, was too important to her.

It’s comforting, in this final moment, to know she had something worth sacrificing everything for.

_Hooo._

And then there’s an owl.Sitting on her knee.A vibrant splash of brown and gold disrupting the endless gray monochrome.Her focus is caught on it, stuck on the only thing that can differentiate itself from the miasma.

_Hooo._

The owl spreads its wings.Small, cute, _familiar._ She can’t place how, but she _knows_ the little creature.It circles around her once, twice, and then starts flying in a direction.Entranced, she follows it.This time, when she walks, she feels like she’s going _toward_ something.

She arrives at a door.Its details blur and meander, but eventually settle into a design.Soft wooden features.What looks like two spy holes over the backside of an owl—owls seems to be a recurring thing now.Vaguely she wonders why.It feels important, that there are owls.

There’s a long door handle.She looks at it, blinks at it, and then realizes she can reach out and take hold of it.She does.It feels heavy.So heavy.Impossibly heavy.

The owl that led her here— _Owlbert_ —coos comfortingly in her ear.She can do this.It’s just a door.She can open it.She’s opened lots of doors before, hasn’t she?

She pulls.The door resists.She pulls harder.The door doesn’t budge.She wraps both hands on the handle, hopes they don’t pop off as they occasionally do, and yanks.The door jerks open.She’s sucked beyond, plunged into an abyssal unknown.

.

“HOOT HOOT!HEY EDA, YOU’RE BACK!!!”

The sky is above her.Her head throbs with the worst imaginable headache.Hooty is yelling obnoxiously.Eda groans.She’s going to lie here, wherever ‘here’ is, for the rest of her life.Everything _hurts._

“Eda!”She’s being squeezed.A set of arms wrapped too tightly around her.A body pressed against her own.Soft, muffled sobs soaking her tattered dress.“I thought…I thought…” Luz clings to her, as if letting her go will mean Eda will slip away again.

It takes Eda’s brain some time to catch up.She’s _out._ She’s not sure how exactly, but she’s escaped her mind.Either that, or this is the afterlife, but if this were the afterlife, Luz wouldn’t be crying.Granted, it seems to be a relieved, joyful sort of crying, but still.Eda wants no part of any afterlife that causes her apprentice to cry.

“Uughghgh…” Eda’s first attempt to vocalize start and end with her jaw forgetting how its supposed to function.She moves her mouth around, adjusting to the feeling of having a defined, physical presence again, and then tries speaking a second time.“W—what happened?”

Luz relaxes her tight hold on Eda, sits back, and looks up into the Owl Lady’s face.She wipes tears out of her eyes.“We rescued you and Owlbert, but we couldn’t get you to turn back.Then Owlbert went and got the Bat Queen.”Luz gestures to where the massive demon is watching them from a distance.“They did a palisman magic thing and went in your head I think?I’m not sure.Then you changed back.”

“Oh,” is all Eda can say.

“Curse is not gone for good,” The Bat Queen speaks up.“More must be done to prevent it from coming back.”She pauses and dips her head in a slight bow.“But help I am willing to give to Owl Lady.”

Eda nods.She’s having trouble keeping up.Words of her own will have to wait.

“Hey, Luz, I got the blankets.Do you think she’ll want some twigs too?You know, cause she sleeps in a nest and if she’s stuck like—EDDDDAAAA!”King drops everything he’s carried out of the house, charges forward, ducks under one of Luz’s arms, and slams into Eda.His tiny limbs can’t fully wrap around her, but he holds her tight regardless.“I— _Luz_ was so worried you wouldn’t be back this time!”He buries his face against her stomach, careful to keep his horns pointed away.

Eda wraps one arm around King.The other she uses to draw Luz back in closer.She hugs them both tightly.They’re real and present and solid, and she’s here with them.Owlbert lands on her shoulder and nestles against her neck.Hooty stretches down, squirming his way into group embrace where he can.

“Thank you,” Eda whispers, “for bringing me home.”

_For being my home._


End file.
